Construction of Masculinity in Antiquity and Early

Transcription

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© Mayordomo, Construction of Masculinity – lectio difficilior 2/2006 – http://www.lectio.unibe.ch
Moisés Mayordomo Marín
Construction of Masculinity in Antiquity
and Early Christianity*
...............................................................................................................................
Zusammenfassung:
Männlichkeit bildet in der griechisch-römischen Antike eine zentrale Kategorie zur
Deutung und Konstruktion der Wirklichkeit. Einige auffällige Aspekte dabei sind: Der
menschliche Körper ist eingeschlechtlich, bringt sich jedoch auf zwei unterschiedliche
Weisen geschlechtlich zum Ausdruck; Männlichkeit muss durch öffentliche
Selbstdarstellung in Konkurrenz zu anderen erworben werden; Kontrolle und Herrschaft
sind zentrale Vollzugsweisen des Mannseins; der moralische Tugenddiskurs dient dazu,
männliche Identitätsmerkmale positiv festzusetzen; männliche Kontrolle kann auch die
Form von Selbstkontrolle annehmen; die Adoleszenz ist die »Schule der Männlichkeit«
und der Ort des Mannes ist »außerhalb« im öffentlichen Raum. Gegenüber dieser
»hegemonialen Männlichkeit« legt der Apostel Paulus einige interessante Aspekte von
Kontinuität
und
Diskontinuität
an
den
Tag
(insbesondere
in
der
Korintherkorrespondenz). Einerseits entzieht er sich den Konkurrenzmechanismen
öffentlicher Rede und Modellen von männlicher Härte (2. Korintherbrief). Andererseits
verwirft er »weibliche«, langhaarige Männer und jegliche Übertretung der
symbolischen Geschlechterdarstellung (1. Korintherbrief). Er stellt die aktive Rolle des
Mannes nicht in Frage, qualifiziert diese allerdings in zwei Richtungen: Ein christlicher
Mann gehört in seiner körperlichen Existenz zu Christus. Er ist ferner moralisch dazu
verpflichtet, seine Liebe gegenüber anderen durch Verzicht auf Aspekte seiner
männlichen Autonomie auszudrücken. Schließlich limitiert Paulus Sexualität auf die
Ehe, denn Sexualität impliziert immer einen Entzug aus dem Bereich der ganzheitlichen
Herrschaft Christi. Daher ist die wichtigste Form der Kontrolle die Selbstkontrolle.
...............................................................................................................................
I. Preliminary Remarks
The classic anthropological discourse has largely been dominated by the concept of an
essential, naturally given bipolarity between two sexes, male and female, and by a tacit
fusion of male/man and humankind. Within the theological guild it is largely due to the
critical ferment of feminist theology that the concept of »man« has been put under
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scrutiny for the first time. The early feminist agenda rightly brought aspects to the fore
like sexism and patriarchy, thus, focusing on the problem of male/man basically as a
problem of power, domination and violence1. The main impetus in the first period has
been to produce socially relevant changes by projecting something like the idea of a
»new man«.
While a strict bipolarity between male and female is often operative in these concepts,
there is another more important opposition, which has become nearly unquestionable:
the difference between biological sex and socially constructed gender2. Recently, under
the influence of philosophers like Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, the discussion has
moved away from »changing men«3. Postmodernism emphasizes the analysis of the
pluralities of socio-historical construction and the deconstruction of hegemonic
concepts of femininity and masculinity. Under the rather vague umbrella-term »gender
studies« a subfield called »male studies« or »masculinity studies« has emerged4. When
applied to the study of history and documents of the past one important starting point is
the basic insight that paradigms of manliness are never culturally neutral but part of the
social construction of reality5.
In the following I would like to raise some questions concerning the construction of
masculinity in Early Christianity against its cultural background. Following a recent
proposal by the German New Testament scholar Martin Leutzsch one can distinguish
four different approaches6:
1. How do New Testament narratives characterise individual figures as male?7
2. How is Jesus as the main figure of all Gospels narrated with respect to ancient
concepts of masculinity?
3. How is God conceptualized as male?
4. How do individual argumentative texts construct or implicitly transmit certain
ideas of what it means to be a man?
Time and space do not allow to cover all these questions. I will, therefore, focus on the
last approach, especially with respect to the letters of the apostle Paul. As one of the
most influential and controversial figures of Early Christianity Paul is especially
interesting because the letters he wrote between the years 50 and 60 have quite a lot to
say about Paul himself and about important aspects of male identity. Most of the texts,
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analysed here, are from the Corinthian correspondence (1Cor and 2Cor). First, however,
I will briefly sketch some important Greco-Roman concepts of masculinity.
II. Being a Complete Man in the Greco-Roman world8
Gender questions are so much part of modern critical discourse that at first sight it may
seem anachronistic to explore ancient literature with such questions in mind. I hope,
however, to show that the ancients were very much concerned with issues of male
identity9. In some ways the modern gender-discourse has made us realize for the first
time the variety and complexity of the ancient discourse.
I would like to illustrate the problem of masculinity by a comparison between two very
different »men« and rhetorical masters at the turn of the first to the second century
CE10: Favorinus of Arles and Polemo of Smyrna.
Favorinus was born into a rich family in southern France as a »malformed« baby: He
should have been exposed to death, but against all odds he was some sort of
Wunderkind and became one of the most learned representatives of Greek culture. The
sexual ambiguity of Favorinus was notorious. Philostratus describes him as follows:
»Favorinus, like Dio, was a philosopher whose verbal facility proclaimed him a
sophist. He came from the Gauls of the west, from the city of Arles on the river
Rhone. He was born double-sexed, both male and female, as his appearance
made plain: his face remained beardless even into old age. His voice revealed
the same ambiguity, for it was penetrating, shrill, and high-pitched, the way
nature tunes the voices of eunuchs.«11
His archenemy was M. Antonius Polemo, a descendant of the Hellenistic kings of
Pontus, born in Laodicea, and in many ways, an ideal Roman man. In his study on
physiognomics he caricatures Favorinus as follows – and that says quite a lot about his
ideal of manliness:
»He was libidinous and dissolute beyond all bounds. […] He had a bulbous
brow, flabby cheeks, a wide mouth, a gangling scraggly neck, fat calves, and
fleshy feet. His voice was like a woman’s, and likewise his extremities and other
bodily parts were uniformly soft; nor did he walk with an upright posture: his
joints and limbs were lax. He took great care of his abundant tresses, rubbed
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ointments on his body, and cultivated everything that excites the desire for
coitus and lust.«12
Favorinus and Polemo can be seen as antitypes of Roman masculinity. While Polemo is
a representative of the »hegemonic masculinity« which dominated Roman culture,
Favorinus forms something like a »subordinate variant«13. It becomes clear from this
example, that the study of male identity in the Greco-Roman world implies an
awareness of some basic differences with respect to modern notions.
1. The human body was constructed as one single-sex body sexually differing only in
inverted genitalia, and two very different sexed bodies. In Greek medical literature
women are simply »inverted« men. The male and female genitals were perceived as
basically equal with the difference that one is outward and the other inward14. The
influential philosopher and physician Galen (2nd century CE) states:
»The female is less perfect than the male for one, principal reason because she is
colder [this can also be found in Aristotle], for if among animals the warm one is
the more active, a colder animal would be less perfect than a warmer. A second
reason is one that appears in dissecting [...]. All the parts, then, that men have,
women have too, the difference between them lying in only one thing, which
must be kept in mind throughout the discussion, namely, that in women the parts
are within [the body], whereas in men they are outside, in the region called the
perineum. Consider first whichever ones you please, turn outward the woman's,
turn inward, so to speak and fold double the man's, and you will find them the
same in both in every respect. […] In fact, you could not find a single male part
left over that had not simply changed its position; for the parts that are inside in
woman are outside in man.«15 [Sounds like an instruction on how to build a
woman...]
From Hippocrates to Galen ancient embryology »envisaged a mingling of male and
female seed, in which various proportions were possible: an infant’s gender was not an
absolute but a point on a sliding scale […]. Masculinity in the ancient world was an
achieved state, radically underdetermined by anatomical sex«16.
Besides these medical specifications there are many mythical narrations which bear
evidence to the notion of one-sex bodies and two genders: In the first half of the second
century CE Phlegon of Tralles collected in his »Book of Marvels« (Peri thaumasion)
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many creepy and marvellous popular stories, many of them belonging to the category of
»Sex-Changers and Hermaphrodites« (chapters 4-10), e.g.:
»A maiden named Philotis, whose family came from Smyrna, was of
marriageable age and had been betrothed to a man by her parents when male
genitals appeared in her and she became a man.«
The myth of a primeval androgyne is found in Hellenistic circles and is widely shared in
mainstream Jewish interpretations of the creation account17. Thus, the Palestinian
Midrash Genesis Rabbah reads:
»And God said let us make a human etc… R. Yermia the son of El’azar
interpreted: When the Holiness (Be it Blessed) created the first human, He
created him androgynous, for it says, ›Male and female created He them.‹ R.
Samuel the son of Nahman said: When the Holiness (Be it Blessed) created the
first human, He made it two-faced, then He sawed it and made a back for this
one and a back for that one.« (quoted according to Boyarin, Carnal Israel, 42)
2. This one-sex model of humanity creates »a situation in which the cultural polarity
between the male and the female was made internal to the masculine gender«18.
Therefore, »[m]anliness was not a birthright. It was something that had to be won«19
over against the danger of being unmanly, which equals being feminine.
Anthropological research has corroborated that in many cultures, surely in the context
of the ancient Mediterranean Sea, masculinity was a matter of constant public selfpresentation; it was always under negotiation, always at the risk of losing male honour
or increasing it20. According to Gleason one of the most important competitive fields for
showing one’s manliness in ancient Rome was not, in first place, the battlefield21 or the
gymnasium22, but rhetorical education and public performance23.
One of the ways to show manliness in public has to do with gesture and physiognomics.
In his study on physiognomics Polemo of Smyrna makes it clear that the male gender is
not dependent on anatomic sex:
»You may obtain physiognomic indications of masculinity and femininity from
your subject’s glace, movement, and voice, and then, from among these signs,
compare one with another until you determine to your satisfaction which of the
two sexes prevails. For in the masculine there is something feminine to be
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found, and in the feminine something masculine, but the name masculine or
feminine is assigned according to which of the two prevails.« (Phys. 2.1.192F =
Gleason, Making, 58)
»The male is physically stronger and braver, less prone to defects and more likely to be
sincere and loyal. He is more keen to win honor and he is worthier of respect. The
female has the contrary properties: she has but little courage and abounds in deceptions.
Her behavior is exceptionally bitter and she tends to hide what is on her mind. She is
impulsive, lacks a sense of justice, and loves to quarrel: a blustering coward.
Now I will relate the signs of male and
female physique and their physiognomical
significance (signa formae maris et feminae
et explicationem physiognomoniae). You
will note which prevails over the other [in
any single individual] and use the result to
guide your judgment (utrum prae altero
valeat observabis et eo potissimam iudicii
tui partem moderaberis). The female has,
compared to the male, a small head and a
small mouth, softer hair that is dark colored,
Aphrodite from
Knidos.
Roman copy of an
original by
Praxiteles (ca.
350/340 BC),
Munich,
Glyptothek
a narrower face, bright glittering eyes, a
narrow neck, a weakly sloping chest, feeble
»Alexander
ribs, larger, fleshier hips, narrower thighs
Rondanini«,
and calves, knock-knees, dainty fingertips
Roman copy of an
and toes, the rest of the body moist and
original from the
flabby, with soft limbs and slackened joints,
3rd century,
thin sinews, weak voice, a hesitant gait with
Munich,
frequent short steps, and limp limbs that
glide slowly along. But the male is in every
Glyptothek
way opposite to this description (sed mas
huic descriptioni ex omni parte contrarius),
and it is possible to find masculine qualities
also in women (licet marium similitudinem
in feminis quoque invenias).« (Phys.
2.1.192-194F = Gleason, Making Men, 60)
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3. Being a man in antiquity was very closely linked to the role of being an active agent
rather than passive. Be it in politics, in sports, in war, in rhetoric or in the vast field of
sexuality24, what qualified an individual as a man was his active control of the
situation25. This »hegemonic masculinity« formed one end of a gradient scale which
moved along the combined lines of domination and masculinity26. Since the amount of
masculinity is a limited good aspirants to masculinity have to compete against each
other27. It follows from the above that adult citizens of the Greco-Roman elites had
easier access to maleness than what »might best be labelled unmen: females, boys,
slaves (of either sex), sexually passive or ›effeminate‹ males, eunuchs, ›barbarians‹, and
so on«28.
From this it also follows, that the degree of masculinity can change during a life cycle.
Especially old men are in danger of becoming unmanly:
»And of the many forms of baseness none disgraces an aged man more than
idleness, cowardice, and slackness, when he retires from public offices (ek
politikôn) to the domesticity (eis oikourian) befitting women.« (Plutarch, Old
Men in Public Affairs 784A)
To be sure there was one field where a clear gender-sex attribution was fundamental:
Roman law29. In order to guarantee the legal status of an individual usually the sex
would be assigned at birth simply by looking at the external appearance of the genitalia.
Roman lawyers did not care too much for further subtleties30.
4. The dominant philosophical notion that true happiness (or eudaimonia) is achieved
through virtue is firmly rooted in the morality of free adult men. To be virtuous means
to be a perfect man. Greek aretê refers to the excellence and perfection31 and is
traditionally part of ideal male heroism. One of the four cardinal virtues was »courage«
or »manliness« (andreia) which derives directly from the Greek word for man anêr32. In
Latin the connection is even clearer since the Romans translated general aretê by virtus
which derives directly from Latin vir = man.
5. The fact that control and domination are the most salient feature of manliness allows
for a philosophical redefinition of masculinity in terms of self-domination, measure and
strength of will (contrary to akrasia; cf. below). Plato’s Gorgias gives evidence for
alternative concepts of masculinity: on the one hand the dominant Achillean version of
courage, violence and total control and on the other hand an inward version of
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discipline, endurance and self-sacrifice (479a-480d, 522e). Moral rhetoric in ancient
Greece and Rome associated lust and lack of self-control with the feminine, austerity
and self-control with the male realm33. The most active agent would be a man who
controls himself with respect to anger and all other forms of passions, especially those
associated with sexuality.
6. If it is true that one is not born a man but made a man, than the adolescence (Latin:
adulescentia) has to be considered the most important phase for the development of a
Greco-Roman man34. This phase which starts between 14 and 15 and may well go up to
30 (from taking up the toga virilis to the point of own political responsibility) is a
»school of roman manliness«35. The key element for the transmission of virile values
was the father as a model of moderation, dignity, control and provision36. His authority
as paterfamilias was absolute and without question37.
7. The division of public and private spaces as the proper spaces for men and women
respectively is all-pervasive in antiquity38. To be a man meant to »go public«, to be
outdoor. This is not only a matter of conventional space-division but corresponds with
bodily differences between men and women:
»It [= Reason] saw how unlike the bodily shapes of man and woman are and that
each of the two has a different life assigned to it, to the one the domestic life
(katoikidios), to the other a civic life (politikos), it judged it well to prescribe
rules all of which though not directly made by nature were the outcome of wise
reflection and in accordance with nature.« (Philo, Virt. 19)
Something like a »natural correspondence« between the concept of women as »inverted
men« and their place inside the house seems to have existed.
III. Aspects of Masculinity in Paul’s Letters39
1. Masculinities under attack (2Cor)
As a starting point I have chosen Paul’s very personal and emotional defence in his
second letter to the Corinthians (esp. in ch. 10-13) against a group of super-apostles
who questioned his authority. This conflict has been the object of many scholarly
contributions40, but not until recently it has become evident that one dimension which
has been unnoticed so far touches the ancient masculinity-discourse outlined above41.
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The allegations against Paul touch upon his role as public speaker and his personal
character:
1. As I have noted above, public speech was one of the most important indicators for the
self-representation of masculinity. As a speaker Paul would automatically be driven
onto the stage of Roman male-competitiveness. The »perfect orator«, according to
Cicero:
»…will maintain an erect and lofty carriage, but with little pacing, and never for
a long distance. As for darting forward, he will keep it under control and use it
seldom. There should be no effeminate bending of the neck (mollitia cervicum),
no waggling of the fingers, or marking of the rhythm. Rather, he will control
himself (se ipse moderans) by the pose of his whole torso, and by the manly
attitude of his body (virili laterum flexione)…« (Or. Brut. 18.59; cf. also Seneca,
Ep. 114)
Every man who entered the field of public speech would be submitted to a test of
masculinity. It was therefore a well-known polemical topic to criticise opponents for
their unmanly performance42. Paul’s opponents in Corinth obviously made some
derogatory remarks about his physical appearance. Paul quotes them saying:
»His letters are weighty and strong (bareiai kai ischyrai), but his bodily
presence is weak (hê de parousia tou sômatos asthenês), and his speech
contemptible (ho logos exouthenêmenos).« (2Cor 10:10)
If read on the background of ancient physiognomics it becomes evident that these
invectives were intended not simply to denigrate the content or style of Paul’s speech
but especially his physical performance43.
2. With respect to Paul’s character the opponents seem to have charged him of being
inconsistent in the fulfilling of his plans (»lightness of mind« lat. levitas / gr. elaphría)
and a coward when it comes to face conflicts. Paul has to justify his change of travel
plans, something which he never does in other letters:
»Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to
ordinary human standards, ready to say ›Yes, yes‹ and ›No, no‹ at the same
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time? 18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been ›Yes and
No.‹« (2Cor 1:17f)
Paul seems to take up their criticism when he says of himself: »I who am humble
(tapeinos) when face to face with you, but bold (tharrô) towards you when I am away!«
(2Cor 10:1) Paul characterized himself as someone who has made himself »a slave to
all« (1Cor 9:19-23) and tries »to please everyone in everything« in order to save as
many as possible (1Cor 10:33). Such statements could easily be used as a charge against
Paul as being a flatterer44, a character trait »utterly inconsistent with the ideals of
masculinity«45. It is also possible that Paul’s decision to earn his living by his own work
or the fact that he had been flogged on several occasions (2Cor 11:23-25) were seen as
limitations of his male autonomy.
In 1Cor 4:21 Paul had asked the congregation: »What would you prefer? Am I to come
to you with a stick (en rhabdô), or with love in a spirit of gentleness (en agapê
pneumati prautêtos)?« Paul’s response in 2Cor has not much to offer if judged
according to the standards of masculinity. Quite to the contrary he appeals to the
»meekness (praotês) and gentleness (epieikeia) of Christ« (2Cor 10:1; cf. 11:21,29f;
12:5,8-10). He reminds the Corinthians tongue-in-cheek that, contrary to his opponents,
he and his co-workers have been simply too »weak« to subdue them:
»For you put up with it when someone makes slaves of you, or preys upon you,
or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or gives you a slap in the face. 21 To
my shame, I must say, we were too ›weak‹ for that!« (2Cor 11:20f)
But right at the end Paul seems to concede to the Corinthians and their expectations
concerning his role as male leader:
»I warned those who sinned previously and all the others, and I warn them now
while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again, I
will not spare (ou pheisomai).« (2Cor 13:2)
Paul applies many metaphors of masculinity to himself: He is father of the church in
Corinth (1Cor 4:14f; 2Cor 11:2f; 12:14), he is a warrior (2Cor 10:3-5) and a victorious
athlete (1Cor 9:24-27). Nevertheless he seems to have been reluctant to make use of his
authority. Especially his theology of the cross marks a critical antithesis with respect to
the Corinthian’s obsession with wisdom and rhetorical skills (1Cor 1-2). By excluding
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himself from the competitive circuit of public speech Paul opens the possibility for
alternative constructions of masculinity. It is, therefore, interesting to take a closer look
on moral exhortations, which directly or indirectly touch on aspects of male selfrepresentation.
2. Masculinities under construction (1Cor)
If we go back to 1Cor we will find many concepts of masculinity implied in Paul’s
moral exhortations, especially in chapters 6 to 11:
a) Paul against »unmanly men«
In 1Cor 6:9 Paul pronounces a sharp invective against those wrongdoers who »will not
inherit the kingdom of God«. Among them are fornicators, idolaters and adulterers
(pornoi, eidôlolatrai, moichoi) and also malakoi and arsenokoitai. Fornication and
idolatry is a fixed linguistic tandem, especially as a topic of Jewish polemic against
pagan »wickedness«46. Adultery is probably the most common sexual offence47. But
what does malakoi and arsenokoitai mean? Many modern translations associate both
expressions directly with homosexuality.
Let me first look at arsenokoitês, sometimes translated as »sodomites« (NRSV 1989),
»sexual perverts« (RSV 1946, REB 1992) or »homosexual offenders« (NIV 1973)48. An
obvious point to start with would be to analyze the separate parts of arsenokoites, which
refer to »male« (arsen) and to »coitus« (koitês), thus »a man who has sex with men«49.
Of course, this looks like the old etymological fallacy of defining a word’s meaning by
the meaning of its components. The problem, though, is that the word itself rarely
appears. It is sometimes used in contexts, which emphasize economical sins. A far more
specific meaning has, thus, been proposed, namely the economic exploitation of others
by means of sex, perhaps but not necessarily by homosexual sex50. But in any case we
should be very cautious when applying a term like »homosexuality« to an ancient text.
It is important to remember that within the history of sexual discourse »homosexuality«
is a rather new invention51. At least the term was coined not until the 19th century in
anonymous writings penned by the Austro-Hungarian author Karl Maria Kertbeny52.
The translation of malakos should be more to the point since this Greek word is attested
fairly often in ancient literature. While older translations up to the 19th century opted
for »effeminate« (KJV 1611, ASV 1901) many modern translations have shifted to
specific activities associated with homosexuality like »male prostitutes« (NRSV 1989,
NIV) or, by combining both terms, »homosexual perversion« (RSV 1946, TEV 1966,
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NEB 1970, REB 1992). The Greek-English Dictionary Based on Semantic Domains (by
Louw & Nida, 1988) simply renders the term: »the passive male partner in homosexual
intercourse – ›homosexual‹.« (88.281)
This is one of the cases where older translations are much more exact than the new
ones, because malakos refers primarily to something soft53: clothes, gourmet food or a
breeze of light wind54. »When used as a term of moral condemnation, the word still
refers to something perceived as ›soft‹: laziness, degeneracy, decadence, lack of
courage, or, to sum up all these vices in one ancient category, the feminine.«55 Being a
malakos could imply a man submitting to sexual penetration but it was used in a much
broader sense for lazy men, cowards, men living in decadence and luxury (cf. Josephus,
War 7.338; Ant 5.246; 10.194)56. Furthermore, it was also a matter of physiognomics
whether someone was more or less male, more or less effeminate57. In the context of
sexuality a malakos may have attracted men as well as women58.
By excluding effeminate men from the »Kingdom of Heaven« Paul is clearly taking
sides with the Roman values of masculinity. The elites in the Corinthian community
may have had some inclinations towards a decadent and luxurious life-style (cf. 1Cor
11:17ff). For Paul’s concept of Christian masculinity this is unacceptable59.
Paul’s implicit »homophobic« sentiments appear again in 1Cor 11:2-1660. There are
many disputed issues involved in the interpretation of this passage61. What is obvious,
though, is that Paul strives for a construction of public maleness, which excludes any
form of blurring the symbolic difference between men and women. While men are
called not to speak in public with long hair, women should avoid open hair in public
(1Cor 11:4-7,14)62. The aversion against long-haired men moves well along the same
lines as Paul’s exclusion of the effeminate man from the kingdom of heaven (cf.
above)63. The only real argument Paul can adduce for such statements is public shame
and honour64, making therefore his construction of masculinity dependent from the
surrounding Roman culture65.
b) Limitations of male strength and autonomy
The whole discussion in 1Cor 8-10 deals with the problem of meat sacrificed in pagan
temples. What is interesting is that the »strong« base their attitude of indiscriminate
consumption on their self-understanding as autonomous and free persons. The »strong«
are true men because they are self-determined66. Paul does not question their moral
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integrity. He only wants them to subordinate their freedom as male subjects to the needs
of their weaker brothers.
»But take care that this liberty (exousia) of yours does not somehow become a
stumbling block to the weak.« (1Cor 8:9)
Paul celebrates the right to renounce one’s own right in order to achieve a higher goal:
the salvation of humankind
»Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right (exousia), but we endure
anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. […]
What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the
gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights (exousia) in the
gospel. For though I am free (eleutheros) with respect to all, I have made myself
a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.« (1Cor 9:12b,18f)
The athlete, a paradigm of masculinity, becomes a model for someone who renounces in
order to achieve a higher goal (1Cor 9:24-27). We have here two competing concepts of
masculinity: self-determined strength versus self-renouncement for the love of others.
c) Male identity, sexuality and allegiance to Christ
The discussion in 1Cor 6:12-7:40 shows a very complex negotiation of what it means to
be a man with respect to sexuality. There are two opposing views: As Michel Foucault
and many others have pointed out, male sexuality in Antiquity was considered as a
simple satisfaction of a physical need akin to hunger and food67. For many moral
philosophers sexuality was, like eating, only a moral problem once it escapes the control
of the male rationality. Satisfaction and control give us two important points of
reference to frame Paul’s discussion in this passage.
Paul’s starting point is a completely different one: According to his Jewish heritage the
human always forms a unity of bodily and non-bodily identity. Based on the creation
account, he sees sexuality between a man and a woman as an intimate act of becoming
»one flesh« (6:16). He furthermore believes that salvation implies belonging to the Lord
as a complete person, not only the inward soul-person but also the outward bodyperson. The male body is not a morally neutral sphere but part of God’s redemption.
Paul states against the Corinthians that the body belongs to the Lord (13b), that the body
is a member of Christ (15a), that the Christian is »one spirit« with the Lord (17), and,
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finally, that the male body is a »temple of the Holy Spirit« (19a)68. This bodily
dimension of Christian salvation is rooted in the fact that God raised Jesus from the
dead (6:14) and, as chapter 15 will make clear, this act of resurrection is an act of bodily
redemption. Instead of satisfaction and domination Paul conceptualizes the male body
as a sphere of intimacy and exclusive belonging to the risen Christ.
The following three cases were disputed between Paul and the Corinthians: sex with a
prostitute, sex within marriage, no marriage and no sex.
1. Sex with a prostitute: In 1Cor 6:12-20 Paul argues against some Corinthian men
having sex with prostitutes. Probably these Corinthian male Christians projected their
masculinity as a field where the penetration of women is a legitimate way of satisfying
one’s sexual needs. Paul starts by quoting a Corinthian slogan »Everything is
permissible« (panta moi exestin) and juxtaposes his own modification: »But not
everything is beneficial« and, more important, »I will not be dominated by anything«
(6:12b: ouk egô exousiasthêsomai hypo tinos). If penetration is a sign of masculinity,
exerting self-control is even more. Paul, thus, implies a contradiction in the Corinthian
approach: the sexually active male becomes a passive victim of his passions.
Paul quotes what looks like a Corinthian argument in favour of having sex with a
prostitute: »Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food« (6:13a). This fits
fairly well into the idea of male sexuality as satisfaction of primary needs like eating.
Sexuality only affects the body and not the soul, the real inner self. Paul argues heavily
from his Jewish anthropological perspective: there is no neat division between body and
soul, the male body belongs to salvation and sexuality is a complete personal union of
man and woman (6:16). Paul can, thus, oppose bodily allegiance to Christ and bodily
union to a prostitute. The idea of being »one flesh« and »one body« may have sounded
strange to Greco-Roman ears, but it becomes the perfect antithesis for Paul. If the male
body is united with Christ it cannot be united with a prostitute. Fornication affects
bodily allegiance to Christ and is, thus, the only sin, which is committed against the
body itself. For the apostle Paul, there is one way for a Christian male to give up his
role as active agent: belonging to Christ. To have God’s Spirit means that »you are not
on your own« (19b).
2. Sex within marriage / no marriage and no sex69: If the ideal of Christian masculinity
is the complete independence from sexual passions and the complete bodily allegiance
to the risen Lord, than even marriage becomes a problem. Some Corinthian men would
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rightly have drawn one conclusion from Paul’s teaching: »It is good for a man not to
touch a woman«70. This is the thesis with which 1Cor 7 starts. Until the end of a rather
strange argumentation in this chapter it is not completely clear whether Paul approves or
disapproves this position.
According to Paul, marriage has one basic raison d’être: Not raising children (as one
would expect within Jewish and pagan context) but prevention of sexual immorality
(porneia) – a reality vividly present in Corinth in form of a man living with his stepmother or in form of some male members going to prostitutes71. This is quite unique.
The only positive thing the unmarried apostle can say about marriage is that it fends off
immorality (7:2). It is, as he says in verse 5, a way of escaping »satanic temptation
because of your lack of self-control« (akrasia). The opposite, the practice of self-control
(7:9: enkrateuomai), is according to Gal 5:23 one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (cf. Tit
1:8; 2Pet 1:6). It is not a coincidence that Paul uses the athlete in 1Cor 9:25 – one of the
great ideal figures of masculinity – as an example of self-control »in all things«
(enkrateuomai).
Akrasia was a central concept in the ancient moral discussion touching the question why
people who know what is good can nevertheless act against this knowledge72.
Philosophers discussed this as a problem of the weakness of human will73. The problem
Paul envisages here is, thus, not in the first place the external reality of sexual
immorality but the inward lack of self-control. In a sense, marriage is only »plan B«.
What is striking, though, is that within marriage Paul fully acknowledges sexuality as a
mutual debt or duty (7:3: opheilên apodídômi)74.
»For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does;
likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife
does.« (7:4)
After having stated that the male body by its being »temple of the Holy Spirit« belongs
to the risen Lord and to him alone, this seems to be a notable exception. In marriage the
man has control over the female body – which is a very natural way of conceptualizing
male domination – but, according to Paul, at the same time he loses control over his
own body.
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Marriage is a necessary »concession« (7:6: syngnômê) in order to create a secure space
for male control-management. »It is better to marry than to be aflame with passion!«
(7:9b) (Probably due to this statement the Apostle Paul will never be counted among the
great defenders of romantic love). Paul’s own ideal is that all Christian men should live
celibate like he himself (7:7ff), though he has to admit that the necessary virtue of selfcontrol is a gift by God (7:7). As the argument progresses, though, Paul gives two
common-sense arguments for staying unmarried: First, the final times are times of crisis
and married people will experience more distress (7:26-28). Second, married people are
divided in their allegiance: they have to care for God and for each other, they have to
please God and each other (7:32-35).
Paul emphasizes that his sole intention in saying this is to spare them problems (7:28:
egô de hymôn pheidomai), sorrows (7:32: thelô hymas amerimnous einai) and, thus, to
promote their benefit (7:35: pros to hymôn autôn symphoron). But one may wonder if
the reason why Paul is suspicious of marriage is only motivated by his eschatological
near expectation. The married man and the married woman are divided in their
allegiance to God. The problem is not too dissimilar to the situation of Christian men
uniting with prostitutes. The only difference is that marriage is not a sin (a fact which
Paul emphasizes three times in 1Cor 7:28,36). The fundamental problem for Paul,
though, is lack of self-control. Christian masculinity culminates in complete control
over one’s bodily needs for him. This anthropological choice paves the way for the
latter Christian movement of celibate life. From this perspective, early ascetics and
monks were not defective males but, quite to the contrary, hyper-masculine figures, able
to control even the most forceful passions75.
3. Circumcision, baptism and manliness
There is a final aspect, which has to be pointed out: The apostle Paul did not attribute
too much importance to the rite of circumcision.
»Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to
remove the marks of circumcision (epispasthô). Was anyone at the time of his
call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. 19 Circumcision is nothing,
and uncircumcision is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God is
everything.« (1Cor 7:18f)
It is well attested that the ancient polemics against Jewish circumcision saw it as a form
of castration76 therefore being a physical sign of unmanliness77. Jews who wanted to
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integrate fully into the hegemonic cultural context chose to undo their circumcision by a
special surgery called »epispasm«78. Although circumcision is not especially relevant
for Paul there is no need for Jewish Christians to re-establish their masculinity by
reversing the effects of their circumcision. Of course, there is also no need for nonJewish Christians to circumcise, which again makes non-Jewish Christian men
undistinguishable from non-Jewish non-Christian men79.
The new Christian rite was baptism. At first sight this is a rite, which makes no
difference between men and women. Paul expresses this clearly with the words of an
early baptismal formula:
»26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. 27 As many of you
as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no
longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and
female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.« (Gal 3:26-28)
There is nevertheless an implicit tendency towards a male perspective. The Christians
are still called »sons« (26) and the article for Greek »one« is masculine (heis).
IV. Conclusion
1. The Corinthian correspondence has shown to be a productive place for getting a
proven paradigmatic glimpse into the construction of masculinity in early Christianity.
The clash between the Hellenistic Jew Paul and the culturally Roman Christians in
Corinth shows that masculinity was under negotiation right from its beginning.
2. As a man Paul does not question the active role of the male agent. But he makes, at
least, two qualifications: A Christian male belongs as bodily person to Christ and he is
morally bound to express his love towards his fellow-believers by renouncing to
important aspects of his male autonomy.
3. On the other hand it is evident that Paul has no sympathies for unmanly, effeminate
men, men with long hair, and every symbolic transgression of cultural gender
parameters. Paul would have been much more on the side of Polemo than on the side of
Favorinus.
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4. As a public speaker Paul inevitably had to expose himself to an external evaluation of
his own masculinity. It seems that he did not conform to the physiognomy expected in
higher Roman circles. His conviction that God’s power operates through weakness
makes him critical not with rhetoric as such but with the manly self-representation
implied in speaking.
5. As a follower of Christ Paul clings to a system of values (or virtues) which has much
in common with the Roman value system, but not all80: being humble (tapeinos), for
instance, is something which runs contrary to hegemonic forms of masculinity. On the
other hand we do not find »courage« (andreia) as a virtue exposed by Paul.
6. As an unmarried Jewish man Paul limits sexuality to marriage. But even marriage is a
lesser evil, because sexuality always implies a retraction from the complete rule of
Christ. The most excellent form of male control is, thus, self-control.
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*
Lecture delivered at the international interdisciplinary conference on »The Image of
the Human Person in Science« organized by the Faculty of Theology at the University
of Latvia in Riga, from 22nd to 24th of February, 2006. I would like to thank my
respondent, Lecturer Agita Misane, for important sociological insights, and, especially,
my hosts and friends Dr. Dace Balode and Dr. Anta Filipsone for a very special time in
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a wonderful city. For reactions on a first draft of this paper I would like to thank the
friends from the »Netzwerk Geschlechterbewusste Theologie«, especially Heike Walz
(Buenos Aires), Julia Müller-Clemm (Berne) and Martin Fischer (Vienna).
1
Dunde, Mann, 51-56.
2
Recently Butler, Gender Trouble has been very influential in questioning this
consensus (cf. Müller-Clemm, Gender-Archäologie, 3f).
3
Thus the title of an important collection of essays edited by Michael Kimmel,
Changing Men.
4
There are many political and academic frictions implied in men’s studies, which are of
no further interest here (cf. Moore, »O Man«, 3f).
5
Cf., inter alia, Humpert, Männlichkeit, 7.
6
Leutzsch, Männlichkeit, 601.
7
Cf. on Matthew: Anderson / Moore, Masculinity; on Mark: Thurman, Masculinity; on
John: Conway, Men; Behold; on Luke (and Pastorals): D’Angelo, Knowing.
8
Some basic works I have been able to consult include: Foxhall / Salmon, Thinking
Men; Foxhall / Salmon, When Men; Gleason, Making Men; Golden / Toohey, Sex and
Difference; Gunderson, Staging; Moxnes, Masculinty; Rosen / Sluiter, Andreia; Späth,
Männlichkeit; Wyke, Parchments.
9
Cf. Liew, Re-Mark-Able, 94-98.
10
Following especially Gleason, Making Men.
11
Philostratus, Lives, 489.
12
Cf. Gleason, Making Men, 7.
13
The important term »hegemonic masculinity« goes back to the pioneering work of
Connell, Masculinities. I use the terms according to Cornwall / Lindisfarne,
Masculinity, 3: »[I]t is useful to think of those ideologies which privilege some men
(and women) by associating them with particular forms of power as ›hegemonic
masculinities.‹ Hegemonic masculinities define successful ways of ›being a man‹; in so
doing, they define other masculine styles as inadequate or inferior. These related
masculinities we call ›subordinate variants‹.«
14
A basic reading for the history of body and gender is Laqueur, Making Sex, 24-43
(German: Leib, 39-49). Laqueur argues that this was the main view up until the 18th
century (cf. also Schiebinger, Skeletons). Prior to the late nineteenth century, the
lingering influence of ancient medicine portrayed sexual identity in terms of the
dynamic interactions of quantities of humidity, temperature, and vital fluids (cf.
Cadden, Meanings). The exact water-divide in the history of modern medicine is
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disputed (cf. the exchange between Stolberg, Woman and Laqueur, Sex; Schiebinger,
Skelettestreit).
15
Galen, On the Use of the Parts 14.6-7 (C.G. Kühn, Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia
[1821; repr. 1964] IV, 159f = transl.: M.T. May, Galen, On the Usefulness of the Parts
of the Body [Ithaca, NY, 1968], II, 628f = Lefkowitz & Fant, Women's Life in Greece
and Rome, 351); cf. also On the the Seed 2.1,5 (= Kühn IV 596.634-636). According to
Galen, On the Seed 2.2 (Kühn IV 596f) the Hellenistic anatomist Herophilus saw a
basic homology between male and female reproductive organs (cf. Staden, Herophilus).
Galen can be read in one line with Aristotle, Gen. an. 737a25-30; 775a.
16
Gleason, Making Men, 59.
17
Cf. Boyarin, Carnal Israel, 35-46.
18
Conway, Behold, 166.
19
Gleason, Making Men, 159.
An important anthropological overview is offered by Gilmore, Manhood (German:
20
Mythos Mann). Cf. also Moxnes, Masculinity. Liew, Re-Mark-Able, 96 aptly relates
»Gilmore’s emphasis on masculinity as an ›achievement‹ to Butler’s concept of ›gender
(as) performance‹«. Similarly Richlin, Gender, 91. The vast field of »male women«
cannot be treated here (cf. Aspegren, Male Woman; McInerney, Manly Women). As an
example I quote Philo’s praise of Julia Augusta at the expense of her female sex: »For
the judgements of women as a rule are weaker and do not apprehend any mental
conception apart from what their senses perceive. But she excelled all her sex in this as
in everything else, for the purity of the training she received supplementing nature and
practice gave virility to her reasoning power, which gained such clearness of vision that
it apprehended the things of mind better than the things of sense and held the latter to be
shadows of the former.« (Leg. ad Gaium 319f = transl. Colson)
21
Cf. Alston, Arms.
22
Nijf emphasizes that »athletic excellence was a defining element of male identity
among the elites of the Roman East« (Athletics, 284).
23
This is the main thesis of Gleason, Making Men; cf. also Gunderson, Staging
Masculinity; Discovering the Body; Richlin, Gender. A transition from the old heroic
virtues of war and dominance towards the virtues of male leadership confined to the
city-life seems to have taken place in the Greek cities under Roman rule (Moxnes,
Masculinity, 266ff). Obviously under Roman rule Greek men did no longer have access
to male identity as they had before. Dio Chrysostom recalls this difference in a speech
to the Rhodians (Or. 31.161f): »For whereas they had many other ways in which to
display their virtues – in assuming the leadership over the others, in lending succour to
27
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the victims of injustice, in gaining allies, founding cities, winning wars – for you it is
not possible to do any of these things. [162] But there is left for you, I think, the
privilege of assuming the leadership over yourselves (to heautôn proestanai), in
administering your city, of honouring and supporting by your cheers a distinguished
man in a manner unlike that of the majority, of deliberating in council, of sitting in
judgement, of offering sacrifice to the gods, and of holding high festival – in all these
matters it is possible for you to show yourselves better than the rest of the world.« Cf.
also Or. 44.10-12. Hobbs, Plato argues extensively that Plato advocates for a »kinder«
and »gentler« ideal of masculinity. According to her (pp. 193-198,239) Plato’s Hippias
Minor contrasts Achilles and Odysseus as models of masculinity. Seneca’s play
Hercules Furens is also interesting: Hercules and Orpheus appear as two models of
masculinity. The first is the old and outdated model for rage, madness and violence, the
second, the alternative, for arts and peace. Alston, Arms, 220f similarly concludes that
the change from the Republic to the Empire also affected concepts of masculinity.
While the Augustan circles tried to found their new image of the Roman vir in the past,
the later elegists tried to produce an alternative.
24
Cf. Aristotle, EN 1126a; Probl 879a-b (»Why do some men enjoy sexual intercourse
when they play an active part and some when they do not?«); 880a (»Why are those
who desire to submit to sexual intercourse greatly ashamed to admit it, whereas they are
not ashamed to admit a desire for eating or drinking or any other similar thing«). The
advocate Haterius says in Seneca’s Contr. 4 pref. 10: »Loss of sexual virtue
(impudicitia) is a crime in a free man, a necessity for a slave, and a duty (officium) for a
freedman.«
25
Alston, Arms, 207-209 establishes a connection between libertas and potestas in
Roman society since the last two centuries B.C. DuBois, Masculinities, 321: »[V]iriliy
was in antiquity associated not with the heterosexual dyad but rather with mastery.«
Späth, Männerfreundschaften, 195: »Männlich ist der Römer, der uns in den Annalen
entgegentritt, wenn er nicht auf Dauer und unabänderlich einer personifizierten Macht
unterstellt ist; zwar schließt römische Männlichkeit keineswegs eine zeitweilige
Unterordnung im – für das soziale Feld der römischen Aristokratie konstitutiven – Spiel
um Macht aus, die momentane Überlegenheit eines andern aber muß als eine
provisorische erkennbar sein und die Möglichkeit einer späteren Umkehrung der
Abhängigkeitsverhältnisses beinhalten. Die Wahrnehmung einer dominierenden
Position ist deshalb das wesentliche Merkmal von Männlichkeit, weil die Beziehungen
der Männer untereinander als Relation zwischen je eigenständigen patres familias
bestimmt ist, zwischen Vorstehern und Verkörperungen ihrer domus, das heißt der
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Vorfahren und der ihrer Gewalt unterstellten Nachfahren und abhängigen Personen, die
ebenso Objekte ihrer rechtlichen Gewalt sind wie der materielle Besitz.« Concerning
sexuality cf. the summary in Meyer-Ziffelhoffer, Phallus, 213: »[D]ie sexuellen
Beziehungen
[werden]
nicht
als
Geschlechterbeziehungen,
sondern
als
Herrschaftsbeziehungen […] objektiviert […]. Man versteht sie als ein Verhältnis von
Herrschaft und Unterwerfung, von Kraft und Schwäche, von Macht und Gehorsam, von
Aktivität und Feminität, wobei hier Virilität ein Konzept von Männlichkeit ist, das
persönliche Freiheit und Souveränität mit Herrschaft über andere verbindet.«
26
Anderson / Moore, Matthew and Masculinity, 68f.
27
Liew, Re-Mark-Able, 104f.
28
Anderson / Moore, Matthew and Masculinity, 69.
29
Cf. Gardner, Sexing.
30
Gardner, Sexing, 147f summarizes: »[L]egal capacity and gender role in Roman
society depended upon assigned sex at birth. Males were those who had what passed for
male genitals (even if dysfunctional or later removed), and they had public and private
rights, including potestas, which were denied to biological females. Sexual ambiguity
was recognized only in the case of hermaphrodites and was resolved in a rough and
ready way by assigning them the gender role of what appeared to be the prevailing sex.«
31
Plutarch, Roman Questions, 102: »A man should be four-square, perfect, like an odd
number, while a woman should resemble a cube, loving the home, hard to shift.«
32
Cf. the word-studies by Bassi, Semantics and McDonnell, Roman Men.
33
Cf. Dench, Austerity.
34
Cf. for the following Humpert, Männlichkeit.
35
Humpert, Männlichkeit, 8: »Schule der römischen Männlichkeit«.
36
Cf. Humpert, Männlichkeit, 33-38; Späth, Männlichkeit, 290-306.
37
Hippocratic tradition would emphasize the existence of both male and female seed,
the one being stronger the other weaker. In the medical tradition there was a dispute
concerning the female role in procreation, which in any case tended to downplay this
aspect
(Harlow,
Name of
the Father, 157-160;
Aspegren,
Male Woman,
16-19.34-36.54f). The role of the mother is reduced, thus, to a minimum. The following
declaration of Apollo in Aeschylus’ Eumenides may be considered as typical also for
the Roman context: »Here is the truth, I tell you – see how right I am. / The woman you
call the mother of the child / is not the parent, just a nurse to the seed, / the new-sown
seed that grows and swells inside her. / The man is the source of life – the one who
mounts. / She, like a stranger for a stranger, keeps / the shoot alive unless god hurts the
roots.« (Aesch., Eum. 665-672; transl. Fagels, 1975, 260)
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38
Cf. Elhstain, Public Man, 19-54; MacMullen, Women; Neyrey, Jesus, 44-53. Cf., inter
alia, Xenophon [428-354 BCE], Oec. 7.22; Aristotle [384-322 BCE], Oec. I 3.4
1343b30-1344; Philo [15 BCE-50 CE], Spec. 3.169 and Hierocles [117-138 CE], On
Duties IV 28.21.
39
Although literature on Paul is rather copious I have only come across a few articles
on the subject: Leutzsch, Männlichkeit; Clines, Paul. Clines starts wondering why noone has »found it […] really interesting for the understanding of his thought […] that
Paul is not just a Jew, a Pharisee, a scholar, a thinker, a traveller, an author – but also a
man.«
40
Cf. the standard New Testament introductions.
41
Cf. Larson, Masculinity; Harrill, Invective.
42
Cf. Tacitus, Dial. 18.5; Plutarch, Cic. 18.1-4; Dio Cass. 46.18.4-6.
43
Larson, Masculinity, 89 points to Seneca’s Controversiae 3, pref 2-3 where the
rhetoric of Cassius Severus is lauded as strong and impressive.
44
The polemic topos of flattery is discussed in Marshall, Enmity, 281-325 as an
important background for these passages.
45
Larson, Masculinity, 92.
46
Cf. Acts 15:20 (»abstain from things polluted by idols and from fornication…; cf.
15:29; 21:25); Rom 2:22; 1Cor 5:11f; 6:9; Eph 5:5; Col 3:5; Rev 2:14 (»so that they
would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice fornication«); 21:8; 22:15. Wis 14:12
states quite clearly: »For the idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication, and
the invention of them was the corruption of life.«
47
As Foxhall, Pandora, 177 indicates, moicheia should better be translated as »sex with
a woman in someone else’s charge«.
48
The word appears in the New Testament only here and in 1Tim 1:10 (in combination
with »lawless and disobedient, godless and sinful, unholy and profane, those who kill
their father or mother, murderers, fornicators, arsenokoitai, slave traders, liars,
perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching«).
49
Cf. Wright, Homosexuals; Petersen, Arsenokotai.
50
Thus the summary in Martin, Arsenokoitês and Malakos.
51
Cf. Halperin, Homosexuality, 15-53.
52
Kertbeny wrote a private letter to Karl Heinrich Ulrichs on 6th. May, 1868 including
the first use of the words homosexual and heterosexual which later he used in his
pamphlets. From 1869 to 1875 he lived in Berlin and in 1869 he wrote two pamphlets,
which were published anonymously. These demanded freedom from penal sanctions for
homosexual men in Prussia and the Prussian-dominated North German Confederation.
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53
Cf. Martin, Arsenokoitês and Malakos.
54
The adjective is used in Mt 11:8 (// Lk 7:25) where Jesus asks: »What then did you go
out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal
palaces.« There may be an implication here against unmanly men in royal palaces.
55
Martin, Arsenokoitês and Malakos.
56
Cf. texts in Martin, Arsenokoitês and Malakos.
57
Cf. Pseudo-Aristotle, Physiognomonica (ed. S. Vogt, 1999).
58
Herter, Effeminatus.
59
It would be interesting to relate this categorical exclusion with the shocking saying of
Jesus about the »eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the
kingdom of heaven« (Mt 19:12).
60
The fact that this passage is mainly discussed in the context of the problem »Paul and
women« evidences a blind spot in the male-dominated field of New Testament exegesis.
The text has a lot to say about public self-presentation of men!
61
The question whether kephalê in 11:3 should be translated as »origin» or »head« is
hotly debated. Probably many interpreters hope that by making a case for »origin» they
can get rid of any patriarchal implications. To be sure, linguistically »origin« is much
more to the point. But ancient masculinity-discourse would connect origin to male
activity. There is, thus, no possibility to free this passage from its patriarchal stance.
62
For a discussion of the interpretation presupposed here cf. Gill, Head-Coverings;
Murphy-O’Connor, Sex and Logic; Oster, Veils; Thompson, Hairstyles.
63
Pseudo-Phocylides, Sentences 212: »long hair is not fit for men« (arsesin ouk epeoike
koman). Cf. further texts in Murphy-O'Connor, Sex and Logic, 485-487. Chrysostom
interpreted this passage as a reference to long hair (In Epistulam 1 ad Corintios hom.
26.1 = PG 61, 213).
64
The semantic field of shame and honour is pervasive through all the text, but cf.
especially: »disgraces his / her head« (11:4f), »disgraceful« (11:6), »proper« (11:13),
»nature« (11:14 here, as so often, identified with culture).
65
66
Leutzsch, Männlichkeit, 607 labels Paul’s position as »Differenzandrozentrismus«.
The central terms are exousia and eleutheria both of which have links to Latin
libertas. 1Cor 8:9: »But take care that this liberty (exousia) of yours does not somehow
become a stumbling block to the weak.« 9:1: »Am I not free (eleutheros)? Am I not an
apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?« 9:4-6:
»Do we not have the right (exousia) to our food and drink? 5 Do we not have the right
(exousia) to be accompanied by a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the
brothers of the Lord and Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right
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(exousia) to refrain from working for a living?« 9:12b: »Nevertheless, we have not
made use of this right (exousia), but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in
the way of the gospel of Christ.« 9:18-19: »What then is my reward? Just this: that in
my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my
rights (exousia) in the gospel. 19 For though I am free (eleutheros) with respect to all, I
have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.«
67
Foucault, Pleasure, 53-62 (= German: Gebrauch, 71-83).
68
In the context of the present argumentation Paul speaks only about the male body.
69
The combinations »marriage and no sex« or »sex and no marriage« are nonsensical
for Paul.
70
For the thesis that 7:1b goes back to the Corinthians themselves cf. Merklein, »Es ist
gut«, 229-232. As an absolute affirmation this statement would stand in blatant
contradiction to the second creation account (Gen 2:18: »It is not good for the man to be
alone!«), which is used as a basic argument in 1Cor 6.
71
Porneia is Paul’s main negative concept. It is a fairly wide term for sexual immorality
of any kind: fornication and, more specifically, prostitution (cf. Malina, Porneia;
Jensen, Porneia). It may well be the case that Paul and the Corinthians agreed on the
fact that porneia is something, which should be avoided; but they may not have agreed
on what to count as porneia. Paul, therefore, has to emphasize that tolerating a Christian
man living with his step-mother is a form of tolerating porneia, an act of porneia which
even according to pagan standards is intolerable (1Cor 5:1ff).
72
In Plato’s Protagoras Socrates launches a decisive argument against akrasia as a
»word-deed inconsistency« (cf. Woolf, Consistency). The simple question is: »How
could a man fail to restrain himself when he believes that what he desires is wrong?«
For Socrates it is impossible to know what is good and act against this knowledge.
Aristotle took up the problem up (NE 7.3) and tried to reconcile the Socratic denial of
akrasia with the commonly held opinion that people act in ways they know to be bad,
even when it is in their power to act otherwise (cf. Henry, Pleasure; on the logical
structure of Aristotle’s argument cf. Grgic, Akratic’s Knowledge).
73
On the philosophical problem of akrasia cf. Chappell, Aristotle; Gerson, Akrasia;
Guckes, Akrasia; Joyce, Akrasia; Mele, Irrationality; Autonomous Agents; Stocker,
Conflicting Values; Stroud / Tappolet, Weakness of Will.
74
The language of mutuality dominates also the short section on divorce in 7:10-16.
75
The intricacies of the whole argument in 1Cor 7 can best be seen by following the
words »good« (kalon) and »better« (kreittôn):
1:
The Corinthian proposal says: »It is good (kalon) for a man not to touch a
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woman.«
8:
Paul agrees that it is good (kalon) for unmarried and widows to stay as he
himself.
9:
But it is much better (kreittôn) to marry than to become the victim of the
flames of passion.
26:
Paul repeats that it is good (kalon) for the unmarried to stay as they are.
28a: But again, those who marry do not sin (cf. 7:36).
37:
Whoever stays unmarried (even if being engaged), does well (kalôs).
38a: Whoever marries his fiancée, also does well (kalôs).
38b: But whoever refrains from marriage will do better (kreittôn).
40:
76
In Paul’s judgement the unmarried is »more blessed« (makariôteros).
In his sharp polemic against radical Jewish Christians who operated in Galatia and in
Philippi Paul can used this »topos« of circumcision as castration: »I wish those who
unsettle you would castrate themselves!« (Gal. 5:12: apokoptô) »Beware of the dogs,
beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh!« (Phil. 3:2:
katatomê)
77
Another negative aspect of circumcision was that in Greco-Roman society the tip of
the penis (the so-called glans) was something very vulgar which should not be shown.
This, basically, excluded Jewish youngsters from participating in sports events (where
nakedness was compulsory), which, at the same time, left them out of an important
avenue for a men’s social progress.
78
Cf. Hall, Epispasm; Dating.
79
Leutzsch, Männlichkeit, 604f.
80
The whole Christian message of crucified Messiah is utterly unmanly!
...............................................................................................................................
Moisés Mayordomo (*1966) is lecturer of New Testament at the University of Berne.
After studies in Germany, Britain and Switzerland he received his doctorate from the
University of Berne in 1997 and finished his »Habilitation« in 2004. His academic
interests include: Matthew, Paul, hermeneutics, new literary criticism and the problem
of violence in the Bible. Email: [email protected].
33

Construction of Masculinity in Antiquity and Early

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